Microsoft Plans New Foldable Tablet, Android Smartphone
October 02 2019 - 1:33PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
Microsoft Corp. is returning to the smartphone game and plans a
suite of new wireless computing devices, including two with dual
screens that fold together like a book.
At a New York press event Wednesday, the company surprised
onlookers when it disclosed plans to re-enter the smartphone
business by the 2020 holiday season with a foldable, dual-screen
device called the Surface Duo.
Microsoft exited the phone-hardware business by late 2017,
following an unsuccessful bid to gain market share which included
buying Nokia's phone division.
The Surface Duo will run on Google's Android operating system
and feature the Google Play Store. Microsoft said it worked with
Google on the software and that it plans to develop its own
software to support dual-screen Android devices that will
contribute to the Android ecosystem.
A key selling point for the Duo is that it enables a user to
video chat with someone on one screen while surfing the internet on
the other, said Panos Panay, Microsoft's hardware chief.
The coming Surface Neo foldable tablet, also due in late 2020,
supports a magnetically attached keyboard and pen, both of which
charge wirelessly when connected to the device. It features a
processor from Intel Corp. and runs on a new version of the Windows
10 operating system designed specifically for dual-screen
devices.
Microsoft's Duo and Neo don't have individual screens that are
foldable. Foldable-screen devices have proven a tough manufacturing
challenge for firms including Samsung Electronics Co. Samsung is
releasing a new version of its Galaxy Fold smartphone with a $2,000
price tag, which comes after t he earlier release was scrapped in
April after screens started to break.
At the event, Microsoft also showed off expected updates to its
Surface laptops and tablets, due out in the coming months.
Devices that can double as a tablet or laptop account for about
10% of the PC market, research firm International Data Corp. said
in September. World-wide shipments of so-called 2-in-1 devices are
also expected to grow at a faster rate than the broader PC market
through 2023, according to IDC data.
Also joining its peers, Microsoft plans to sell wireless earbuds
later this year. The voice-enabled round earbuds would start at
nearly $250 and Microsoft's announcement comes a couple of weeks
after Amazon unveiled new wireless earbuds. Microsoft previously
had headphones in its Surface audio-products lineup. Apple Inc.'s
AirPods have 53% of the global earbud market share, according to
Counterpoint Research.
"Today you saw us reimagine every pretty much every part of the
tech stack," Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said,
describing the new product lineup as a "symphony of devices."
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 02, 2019 13:18 ET (17:18 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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